Evangelical Theological Aesthetics
A Theology of Beauty and Perception
- Theology
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
What is beauty? Hans Urs von Balthasar famously critiqued Protestantism for lacking a theology of beauty. But is this critique accurate? This book develops theological aesthetics from an evangelical Protestant perspective. The primary dialogue partner is Balthasar, but Currie also shows the development of theological aesthetics in the history of theology. Currie explores the relationship of beauty and glory and the spiritual sense and the physical senses. Theological aesthetics is not esoteric but profoundly shapes the believer's perception of God through faith and generates a beautiful life.
Endorsements (4)
“I’ve highlighted too many places in this book to make underlining useful. Hans Urs von Balthasar opened a wound in modern Protestant theology: its paucity of aesthetic theology. Ryan Currie faces this challenge with honest respect as well as appropriate push-back. With Balthasar, Currie defends a theological aesthetics against an aesthetic theology. But he also contributes his own insights, showing that classic Reformation theology is immune to many of the famous Roman Catholic theologian’s criticism. It is not an apologetic work. The main point is to encourage us all to think more deeply about a crucial but neglected aspect of the theological task. My favorite sentence: ‘Material and physical beauty do not compete with spiritual beauty but rather manifest it and become a place where the individual can perceive truth about God.’”
“It is not easy to speak cogently about beauty, much less the beauty of God—particularly from an evangelical perspective. Ryan Currie here succeeds in doing all three by giving a theological account of how we perceive the beauty of God supremely in Christ and secondarily in art and all creation. It may be an exaggeration to say that ‘beauty will save the world,’ but this work saves beauty from its unwarranted evangelical neglect.”
“If Hans Urs von Balthasar was the Roman Catholic theologian of theological aesthetics, then Ryan Currie is its emerging voice for Evangelical Christianity. His engagement with historical, biblical, and philosophical theology is compelling and profound, yielding thrilling and impressive implications. Currie’s Evangelical Theological Aesthetics is bold, insightful, and creative.”
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